Objective: The purposes of this thesis included: i) To explore the annual incidence and time-loss duration of traumatic, work-related injuries of four nature-of-injury (fractures, nerve lacerations, tendon lacerations/disruptions and amputations) and two part-of-body categories (hand and wrist); and ii) To identify the incidence and time-loss duration, and examine explanatory variables that were associated with time-loss duration for subjects with hand fractures. Methodology: Data on incidence, time-loss duration and explanatory variables were reviewed on claims accepted between January – December 2006 at WorkSafe-New Brunswick. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used to explore incidence and time-loss duration. Using a biopsychosocial framework, explanatory variables associated with time-loss duration were analyzed using Cox Proportional Hazards regression. Results: The incidence for hand and wrist trauma involving fractures, tendon lacerations/disruptions and amputations was low (3%). Incidence was significantly higher for fractures and for injuries to the hand, while time-loss duration was significantly higher for the wrist (p< .05). The incidence rate of hand fractures was low (1.5%) and average time-loss duration was high (92 days). Increased time-loss duration was associated with greater medical aid costs (used as a proxy for injury severity) older age and increased receipt of therapy (Physiotherapy/Occupational Therapy). Conclusions: The annual incidence of specific injuries involving the hand and wrist is challenging to compare to the literature since incidence is presented in many ways. Time-loss duration following hand and wrist injuries is highly variable. Time-loss duration for hand fractures exceeded reports in the literature and predicted values reported in disability duration guidelines. Consideration of the impairment, personal and environmental factors is warranted to provide a framework to the return-to-work process for all stakeholders involved in the care of the hand- and wrist-injured worker.

Although the death of a child client is among the worst work-related events that a child welfare worker can experience, the phenomenon is tremendously understudied concerning how the event impacts the staff involved and how, or if, their employing agencies supported any mental health needs that may have arisen after the death. This study investigates what types of mental health/emotional support was made available to Northeastern Ontario child welfare workers following the death of a child client, and how effective that support was in helping the worker cope with any difficulties related to the death. This study was guided by principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory and semi-structured qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with five (5) participants. My analysis found that the death of a child client can negatively impact both the mental wellbeing of involved workers as well as the organizational climate of an agency. My analysis also found that workers may delay the emotions associated with the grieving process to effectively focus on the administrative requirements resulting from the child’s death, potentially to their detriment. The different ways child welfare organizations supported staff through these events included individual and group psychological debriefings, grief counselling, and providing information regarding additional support options. Only three of the five workers engaged in the strategies provided to them by their agency, and of those three, only one found the services to be helpful with managing emotional difficulties related to the child’s death. What remained true among all five participants was that they each had very personalized ideas as to what they felt would have best helped them through this difficult event. I conclude that based on related literature and the findings of this study, child welfare organizations are recommended to invest in a thorough and embedded agency framework of trauma-management that addresses policy and procedure development as well as support coordination at the pre-trauma, immediate trauma, and post-trauma levels. Additionally, trauma-management should not be a singular standardized response and should be tailored to the individualized needs of each worker. Agencies should be well-versed in delivering different strategies of trauma-management and letting the worker lead in determining what type of support they are looking for and when would be best to receive it. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Exposure of employees to traumatic experiences in the workplace is a reality that many organisations face. Although not every person exposed to a traumatic experience will necessarily develop post-traumatic stress, the workplace still has a responsibility to assist individuals to deal with psychological reactions after a traumatic experience. The South African Police Service (SAPS) is one such organisation, where employees run a particularly high risk of being exposed to traumatic experiences while performing their tasks. In order to help employees of the SAPS to debrief their trauma, trauma counsellors are necessary. Within the SAPS, trauma counsellors are trained in an adapted version of Mitchell’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) model, with the underlying focus to establish a sense of safety for the police official. The trauma counsellors in the SAPS are trained by means of an experiential learning experience, where journaling is utilised to capture personal experiences during the training. The objective of the study was therefore to explore the experience of counsellors during a trauma counselling training programme. A qualitative research design was utilised following a phenomenology approach. The social constructivism paradigm was also utilised in this research study. Trauma counsellors (N=12) in the SAPS were used as case study for this research, where a purposive homogeneous non-probability sampling technique was implemented. The journal entries made by the participants during the nine day training programme were used as a data collection method. Four categories were extracted from the data, namely, thoughts regarding trauma counsellor’s experiences, emotion experiences of counsellors, the impact of daily experiences on counsellors and the participants’ view on how their competence of efficiency would change in the future. The results showed that the training programme was an effective strategy to train the counsellors. The counsellors showed increased self-awareness and self-insight after the training. The participants gained insight and understanding of how police officials experience trauma. The findings showed that the participants felt empowered and more confident to assist police officials with their trauma recovery. In relation to their training, counsellors made recommendations for the future training of trauma counsellors within the SAPS. Finally, recommendations were made for future research as well as the implications of the study for the industrial psychology practise. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Exposure of employees to traumatic experiences in the workplace is a reality that many organisations face. Although not every person exposed to a traumatic experience will necessarily develop post-traumatic stress, the workplace still has a responsibility to assist individuals to deal with psychological reactions after a traumatic experience. The South African Police Service (SAPS) is one such organisation, where employees run a particularly high risk of being exposed to traumatic experiences while performing their tasks. In order to help employees of the SAPS to debrief their trauma, trauma counsellors are necessary. Within the SAPS, trauma counsellors are trained in an adapted version of Mitchell’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) model, with the underlying focus to establish a sense of safety for the police official. The trauma counsellors in the SAPS are trained by means of an experiential learning experience, where journaling is utilised to capture personal experiences during the training. The objective of the study was therefore to explore the experience of counsellors during a trauma counselling training programme. A qualitative research design was utilised following a phenomenology approach. The social constructivism paradigm was also utilised in this research study. Trauma counsellors (N=12) in the SAPS were used as case study for this research, where a purposive homogeneous non-probability sampling technique was implemented. The journal entries made by the participants during the nine day training programme were used as a data collection method. Four categories were extracted from the data, namely, thoughts regarding trauma counsellor’s experiences, emotion experiences of counsellors, the impact of daily experiences on counsellors and the participants’ view on how their competence of efficiency would change in the future. The results showed that the training programme was an effective strategy to train the counsellors. The counsellors showed increased self-awareness and self-insight after the training. The participants gained insight and understanding of how police officials experience trauma. The findings showed that the participants felt empowered and more confident to assist police officials with their trauma recovery. In relation to their training, counsellors made recommendations for the future training of trauma counsellors within the SAPS. Finally, recommendations were made for future research as well as the implications of the study for the industrial psychology practise. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This dissertation of limited scope explored via a qualitative reflective approach how pastoral therapy and care practices contributed to workplace transformation and ethics at a factory that had to be restored to profitability. In Chapter 1, the study's research curiosity questions how pastoral therapy and care practices could inform business in its resistance of workplace trauma and injustice. The epistemology of contextual theology and social constructionism is reviewed in Chapter 2 in its support of the research. Themes and ideas such as; participatory ethical care, ethics, the prophetic role, narratives, workplace culture, witnessing and participant awareness and empowerment are applied to workplace culture transformation. Chapter 3 explores the factory's dominant story of low morale, financial loss and feelings of no hope for the future in context of discourses of capitalism. In resistance to the dominant story, Chapter 4 focuses on practices and experiences that supported the factory's alternative story and Chapter 5 reviews the factory's alternative story in context of purposeful transformation practice. Chapter 6 concludes the study by reflecting on the research curiosity, the research aims and the researcher's development. / Practical Theology / M. Th ((Specialising Past Therapy) Practical Theology)

This dissertation of limited scope explored via a qualitative reflective approach how pastoral therapy and care practices contributed to workplace transformation and ethics at a factory that had to be restored to profitability. In Chapter 1, the study's research curiosity questions how pastoral therapy and care practices could inform business in its resistance of workplace trauma and injustice. The epistemology of contextual theology and social constructionism is reviewed in Chapter 2 in its support of the research. Themes and ideas such as; participatory ethical care, ethics, the prophetic role, narratives, workplace culture, witnessing and participant awareness and empowerment are applied to workplace culture transformation. Chapter 3 explores the factory's dominant story of low morale, financial loss and feelings of no hope for the future in context of discourses of capitalism. In resistance to the dominant story, Chapter 4 focuses on practices and experiences that supported the factory's alternative story and Chapter 5 reviews the factory's alternative story in context of purposeful transformation practice. Chapter 6 concludes the study by reflecting on the research curiosity, the research aims and the researcher's development. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th ((Specialising Past Therapy) Practical Theology)